The Bluecoats waited on the entrance ramps to field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on August 2 to perform at the Enshrinement Week pre-season game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos.
It was just a week before the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis.
With a few minutes remaining in the first half, the Bluecoats logo flashed on the jumbotrons and the announcer said, “Coming up at halftime, we have a very special treat. Canton’s very own Bluecoats will be performing an excerpt of their show from the Drum Corps International competitive tour. Stay in your seats!” And they stayed.
The crowd of more than 20,000 football fans cheered from the moment the Bluecoats took the field. They could tell this that was not a traditional marching band, and that this would be no ordinary halftime show – certainly nothing like anything these NFL fans had ever seen on the field.
The Bluecoats did not disappoint. They were in exceptional form as they performed the final 5ó minutes of their 2019 show, “The BLUECOATS.” The audience responded immediately to the music of The Beatles and to the caliber of performance by the corps turning it on for the crowd, surrounding them in all directions. Just before staging the props on the field, one horn line member looked around and said, “We’ve never played with people behind us before!” That’s a drum corps phenomenon. But the corps gave the visitor-side crowd a great performance as well.
As TV cameras captured their electrifying performance and aired a portion on the national broadcast, the Bluecoats wowed the audience and earned constant applause. After the final bow, they received and standing ovation and even louder cheers. Fans lined the exit ramps, giving corps members high fives and praise all the way out of the stadium.
Bluecoats CEO Mike Scott said, “Being able to perform for the Hall of Fame game was such an incredible honor. It was absolutely thrilling to have the opportunity to share drum corps and the marching arts with an audience like this on a national stage.”
Along with the halftime performance, the Bluecoats also partnered with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week to host nearly 100 high school musicians from around the country at the Bluecoats Band of Excellence for a two-day marching music clinic. The group also performed at a pre-game event on the steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Museum.
For the Bluecoats, the detour from their regular tour itinerary was a remarkable experience and a resounding success – not to mention a thrill the thousands of fans and millions of viewers who got a taste of drum corps at its finest for the first ever televised coverage of DCI at a nationally sporting event.
